You Can Change Your Behavior and Live Better

As the COVID-19 pandemic has raged across the globe, we’ve all had to change our behavior in our everyday lives.  This has had a positive impact on wellness. Proving we can be healthier. There’s no need for complacency. It’s time to take charge of your personal health plan.

Your behavior is more important than ever

While authorities around the world have differed somewhat in their guidelines and recommendations on how best to combat the virus and curb the spread, the recurring theme, and one that has been universally accepted, is the need for individuals to take more responsibility for their actions.

Taking responsibility for your health

The concept of personal responsibility has come to the fore over the past decade in the context of chronic disease and is one of the fundamental pillars of personalized medicine, the field of medicine that uses an individual’s genetics to guide the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of disease.  

Personalization

From the perspective of the healthcare practitioner, personalized medicine relates to the individuality of each patient, and the acceptance that each patient may ultimately require their own unique intervention to achieve optimum health outcomes. 

Photo by Lucas Pezeta from Pexels

From the perspective of the patient, personalized medicine speaks to ownership of health outcomes – the knowledge to better understand your own personal health risks, and the interventions required to modify these risks.

Are you controlled by your genes?

One of the outstanding scientific accomplishments of the last century was undoubtedly the complete sequencing of the human genome, a first draft of which was published in 2003.  Of all the information this unlocked, one of the most significant findings was the realization of the strong interplay that exists between the genes we carry and the environment in which we place ourselves, that although we can’t control or change our genetic blueprint, we can certainly control the way this blueprint expresses itself.   

The power of personalized medicine to help you change your behavior

The power of personalized medicine, using genomics as a tool, has put the power of prevention very much into the hands of the consumer.

Preventing common diseases

Between them, the most common chronic diseases of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes place an enormous burden on an already strained healthcare system, and many of these are largely preventable through the adoption of suitable dietary and lifestyle habits.  

It has been repeatedly shown that susceptibility to COVID-19 infection, symptom severity, and disease mortality are strongly correlated with underlying conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension.  Poor diet, stress, environmental toxins, and sedentary behavior are all key risk factors for chronic diseases and are all factors that, to a greater or lesser extent, are in our own hands to control.  

How to change your daily behavior

Changing behavior is never easy. Ask any coach, psychologist, or dietitian, and they will tell you it’s one of the most difficult things to accomplish. But we’ve all changed our behavior considerably over the last two years, indicating that, while it might be difficult, it’s certainly not impossible.  

One behavior change I believe will be integral to the aging process going forward is personal responsibility, using the tools at our disposal to make better diet, lifestyle, and nutrition choices to better manage our own health outcomes.